Child's Play
by ChibiKanakoNyu
Summary: A story (on crack) about a lost tiger, a smoking fox and a couple of little furballs from God knows where. Animal ears and tail AU, dedicated to Gilje honey.


**Title:** Child's Play  
**Rating:** T (for language, I guess)  
**Words:** 2746  
**Pairing:** ZoSanZo

* * *

Night was slowly descending onto the forest, rendering the branches and leaves into mere silhouettes in the light of the moon, with rainclouds swimming in front. Raindrops fell quickly and heavily, filling the woods with their fresh scent, crickets and frogs singing amidst the moist grass.

Zoro shook his head to get off some of the water clinging to his skin and fur. He didn't really like staying out in the rain, but luckily, he wouldn't have to endure it for long, either; he was just about to head home. The tiger was planning to gather a little more food, but alas, he had woken up too late from his all-day nap. The wild boar he had hunted down and was carrying on his shoulder would have to do for now.

On the way to his cave, Zoro was walking past a small creek behind some rocks and bushes, which came running from a wider river and waterfall farther away. He quite enjoyed the taste of its clear water, and rain or not, he felt a little thirsty, so he decided to stop for a drink. Just a quick sip, since the smell of the boar's blood could cause him unnecessary trouble if he stays out for too long...

The tiger bent down and let his spoils slide down, too, onto the wet grass by the creek with a damp thud. Red streaks floated along the water from his mouth, blurred with the falling rain as he leaned to drink, though after one or two gulps, he froze. He noticed he wasn't alone. Zoro's ears perked and his bright eyes snapped around, his nose moving slightly as he tried to sniff out who or what was present .. the latter was a tad more difficult, due to all the smells the rain evoked. As he glanced a little more along the water-flow, however, he spotted something clinging to the shore. Something small and shivering...

Wondering what it could be, the tiger rose ever so slowly, carefully crouching near the thing in the shadows. And upon closer inspection, he could make out two ears and a drenched, fluffy tail on the small creature, its fur bright against the darkened grass and water. A tiny, male fox cub, his nose told him, and his hearing let him know that it was just unconscious, breathing shallow and trebling breaths. He must have had fallen into the river somewhere, and had been washed ashore here, where the water was already slowing down.

Zoro furrowed his brow, and nudged the baby fox's head with the ball of his hand. The little thing's eyelashes – and the curly eyebrows above them – fluttered, but he didn't come to his senses, too cold and weak to open his eyes. Hunching over the little one, Zoro was contemplating on what he should do. He could eat him, but fox meat wasn't exactly his favorite, not to mention that a mere cub wasn't nearly enough to sate his hunger. On the other hand, he didn't really feel like leaving the little animal to die, either, if not from the cold then from some other creature hunting for prey. And the brows... curly brows. Oh so familiar...

"What am I even doing..." The tiger grumbled to himself as he reached into the water to lift the drenched little fox out of the creek, and straightened up. As he held the shivering child to his chest, the little one tried to press and snuggle against him unconsciously, trying to feel some of his body heat, squeaking as his tiny body shook.

"I get it, you little runaway, I get it," Zoro sighed and chuckled quietly, shaking his head as he turned to walk back to where he left the boar, and after picking it up onto his shoulder again, he made his way towards the cave he lived in.

Arriving home, Zoro dried himself off a bit, before he set up a fire in the back of his cave, and lay the half-frozen child down close to it, onto his nest made of leaves and pieces of cloth. He took off the wet little clothes the fox was wearing, and instead wrapped him up in a small blanket to help his fragile body gain back temperature. And then, as the little thing just lay there, shivering, the tiger lay down next to him, and just watched him.

The baby fox was still quivering terribly, curled up tightly into a furry little ball, and Zoro was yet again at a loss for what he should do. Sighing, he moved his hand to place his palm onto the little blond boy's head, and to his surprise, and relief, it only took some small strokes of his fingers for the child to still, and snuggle up against his warm hand. In the end, the tiger pulled the fox cub closer, and held him against his chest, even draping his striped tail around him, listening to the little one snoozing, the fire cracking and the rain still pouring outside, until he, too, fell asleep. He felt a strange tingle well up inside him, caring for something this small...

xxx

The rain left off somewhere around sunrise, leaving enough time for the sun to dry up most of the moistness, creating a humid morning air. Zoro was woken up by his stomach grumbling, which was about the only thing that could stop him from sleeping through the whole day. As he sat up, his shoulders and head felt unusually heavy, and the tiger wondered briefly why that was so, scratching his head behind his striped ear. Though he got a pretty good idea what the increased weight on his shoulders could have been, when two little hands fisted his short green hair and pulled on it, making him hiss and growl out loud.

"Gwassy! Gwassy!" The fox cub squeaked and giggled, eagerly trying to tear Zoro's hair out by the roots.

"God DAMMIT, kid, ow!" The tiger shook his head and tried to make the boy let go of his hair, even his tail standing up in irritation. "That's no grass! No grass, you hear me?! Ouch!"

When Zoro finally managed to get the little one's fingers to loosen and release his tortured hair, he could hear someone else yelling from outside:

"Oooooi! Shitty marimo tiger! I know you're in there, so get your ass out of your damn cave!"

"Agh, not that bastard..." Zoro muttered and stood up, forgetting that the tiny fox was still riding his shoulders as he padded to the mouth of the cave, to greet his most unwelcome guest.

Sanji, the foul-mouthed fox living near the waterfall, was standing there at the entrance, looking utmost irritated, his feet tapping on the ground and his bushy fox tail swishing back and forth. None of the men had the opportunity to "greet" each other yet, however, before the smaller of foxes found a new toy, in the form two striped ears this time.

"Graaaaah!" Zoro roared, promptly reminded of the little brat again, who just giggled at the fluffiness of his ears.

"There you are!" Sanji, on the other hand, gave a gasp of relief as he spotted the tiny critter, and almost tore him off the tiger's shoulders (along with the ears he was gripping at), to pull him into a fierce hug. "I've been looking all over for you, you fucking kid!" The fox exclaimed, though his harsh words were spoken in a rather unfitting cheerful and loving tone as Sanji nuzzled the child's face, who was struggling and groaning from the huge love-attack, clearly not able to cope with it.

"Ah," Zoro spoke, still hissing as he rubbed at his ears. "He yours?" He asked after some seconds of silence, with the smallest of grins. The damn blond wouldn't behave like that towards just any little brat.

Sanji was startled by the question, the twitch of his long ears making that apparent. He held the cub to his chest tightly as he looked at the tiger, putting on a face as if he was deeply offended. Or very smug. Or both at the same time. Zoro couldn't decide.

"Yeah. So fucking what?" The fox huffed, wrinkling his nose as he frowned, a small blush coloring his cheeks.

"Oh nothing," Zoro shook his head, his grin widening. "Just didn't know you had a kid. Wonder who it's from, too, I feel sorry for 'em."

"Shut the fuck up, you shitty mossbrain!" Sanji sneered at him.

"Hey-hey, no swearing in front of the kid," the tiger teased him, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Why the hell do you care? " Sanji shot back with a glare. "Why was he with you, anyway? The fuck did you do to him, you shitty grassy tiger?!" The fox yelled and almost smothered the baby boy in his arms, who struggled so long until he could wiggle free and climb onto his father's shoulders instead.

"Didn't do anything, just found him yesterday," Zoro frowned and shrugged. "He's fine, isn't he?" He nodded towards the cub playing with Sanji's ears.

"Uh, yeah..." The older fox couldn't say anything more to that, just blushed a bit more and clenched his now empty hands into fists, before he opened them again to instead hold onto the little boy's legs. "Where'd you find him?" Sanji tried to force a straight face, inwardly cursing the other man for getting him so agitated. He hated it when the damn tiger got under his skin...

"At the creek," Zoro answered, switching to a similarly serious expression. "You should be more careful where you let your brats play around..."

"I don't wanna hear that coming from you, shithead. You didn't even recognize he was mine, and even thought about eating him, I bet!"

"Oh yeah, that explains his fucked-up eyebrows. The poor kid..."

"What was that?!"

"I'm home..." A mumbling voice disturbed the two adult's dispute, and Sanji glanced down in the voice's direction to find out who on earth it could be. And the fox's eyes grew wide when he saw an exact miniature replica of Zoro looking back at him with a grumpy expression, then trying to scurry inside the cave past him and the older tiger.

Zoro, on the other hand, didn't even have to look to know who it was, and just as the little tiger thought he could sneak in past him, he knocked him over his head, which made the young one tumble back and fall onto his behind onto the ground.

"Ouch! Hey, dad, that hurt!" The small one complained, rubbing at the small bump on the top of his head.

"Dad...?" Sanji gaped, first staring at Zoro, then at mini Zoro, then at Zoro again. "What...? How...?"

"The hell have you been?" Zoro ignored the fox's distress, and growled at the boy strictly.

"I, uh..." The little tiger pouted and turned to look to the side. "I went for a walk."

"You got lost again, didn't you?" The older tiger shook his head with a big sigh. "Damn, who raised you to be so stupid?"

"Well, you, apparently," Sanji grumbled as he came to his senses from the shock. "You lost marimo."

"What?!" Zoro snapped and growled at the blond.

"See? See, dad? The fox-niichan says you're getting lost, too!" The tiger cub cheered, though he quickly got on his feet and hid behind Sanji's back when his elder bared his teeth at him, too.

"Bullshit! I'm not getting lost!" The bigger tiger insisted, turning to the fox again.

"Oh yes you are, you dumb shit!" Sanji grinned back, pointing at Zoro's nose. "That green fur of yours sucks away all the juice from that one braincell in your head!"

"Say that again, you damn fox! I bet you're spending hours to keep your fur so shiny!"

"Oh, thanks for the failed insult, grasshead!"

"You're welcome, princess!"

"WHAT WAS THAAAAT?!"

While the two parents quarreled, the baby fox had apparently had enough of playing with his father's ears and hair, so he leaned his puffy cheek against the back Sanji's head, looking terribly bored. Zoro's little offspring, who was still hiding behind the blond's back (or more precisely his thick fox-tail), only then noticed that there was someone sitting on the fox-niichan's shoulders, and since he was a curious little critter, he stretched up and poked the smaller boy's cheek with his finger. The fox cub responded with some baby babbling and waving one of his little arms in the air in protest, and when the tiger boy pulled his finger away from his face, the younger one tried to mimic the position of the older boy's hand, curling his tiny fingers so only his forefinger remained more or less straight.

Seeing that, the little tiger straightened all his fingers out on his outstretched hand again, Sanji's little son doing the same. Then the boy raised his other hand, as if he wanted to catch the little one, which made the tiny fox let go of his dad's head and lift his own hand, too, and with his small legs still held by Sanji, he tipped back and plopped down over the older fox's back. And on a whim, the young tiger grabbed the tiny fox and pulled him out of the remaining hold, but not having counted with how much a baby can weigh, he fell onto his back into the grass, with the fox cub on top of him, already reaching for his ears and hair to tug at them, giggling.

"What the..." Sanji quickly turned around as his son was taken off of him, only to see that mini Zoro was whining and complaining about his ears being pulled, and was fighting back with tickling the baby's tummy. The tiny fox let go of the fluffy green ears then, to instead fall onto his back on the little tiger's stomach, waving about with his hands and feet from the tickling.

The children played around like that some more, poking, tickling, laughing and rolling around in the grass, which turned Sanji's frightened, then wondering expression into a warm smile. The older fox pushed his hands into his pockets, pulling out his cigarettes to light up, and blow out a puff of smoke while watching the little boys whirl and giggle about. When he noticed Zoro walking up next to him, he chuckled and shook his head subtly.

"Look at the little assholes... Why would they care if we're worried sick about them?"

"Yeah..." The older tiger laughed quietly. "Guess that's how kids are, huh?"

"But damn, Zoro, that boy is so big already..." Sanji said as he followed the little green tiger with his eyes, as the boy waved the tip of his tail in front of the fox cub's nose, pulling it away each time the baby tried to catch it. "Since when the hell do you have a son...?" He wondered in a voice a little more quiet, keeping his eyes strictly on the children.

Zoro glanced over at the blond, who was in the middle of taking a drag of his smoke, and he blinked once, before he snorted and chuckled.

"What?" He said, grinning at Sanji, and bending forward to try peek under his blond bangs into his face. "You jealous, shitty fox?"

Sanji, though, evaded the assault, by blowing a cloud of smoke right into Zoro's face, making the tiger hack and cough. The blond laughed heartily at that, while the green-head growled and grumbled and coughed beside him, and he turned away slightly to inhale another dose of nicotine, his hair curtaining his slightly flushed cheeks even more.

"As if..." He said, after blowing out the smoke in a long streak, with Zoro frowning and turning away to look at the little ones again.

However, very carefully, a bushy fox tail brushed against the tiger's legs, stroking along them languidly, gently. And as both the adults continued to watch the two boys at play, a green striped tail slowly curled around the soft blond fur...


End file.
